Bobby and "The Cause"

It is the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  This past year, I've been shocked at how little has been in the news about this anniversary.  I have heard an occasional "shout-out" or someone acknowledged it more as a footnote rather than a major milestone.  We often forget that the world we live in is the product of all those who came before.

One such person who helped bring this monumental achievement was Robert F. Kennedy.  "Bobby" is often marginalized due to the popularity of his older brother and fallen president John F. Kennedy.  RFK did a lot to push civil rights in this nation.  That is the subject of my book Robert F. Kennedy and the Shaping of Civil Rights, 1960-1964.

Of course, Bobby Kennedy would not have had the opportunity to affect history without his older brother.  At a mere thirty-five years old Kennedy was thrust into the office at the behest of his brother and his father.  He wasn't sure what he was going to do after the election of 1960, but finally accepted the position that would catapult him into the history books.

In the end, Bobby Kennedy was a civil rights warrior, but it did not happen over night.  In fact, he said that civil rights did not "keep me up at nights," when he was contemplating America's greatest issues that he felt needed to be addressed.  Many civil rights leaders questioned he and his brother's devotion to the cause despite the fact that they were the only politicians to intervene on behalf of Martin Luther King when he was jailed for a traffic violation during the sit-in movement.  In his time at attorney general Kennedy dealt with the Freedom Rides, James Meredith and Ole Miss, the Birmingham riots, the integration of the University of Alabama, the proposal and passage of the Civil Rights Act and the March on Washington, to name a few.

The almost four years that Kennedy was attorney general there was an explosion of activity in the civil rights movement.  Many historians credit Dr. King, SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) and other groups as well as the hope that World War II gave to African Americans in this nation after fighting totalitarianism abroad.  Indeed, they were all factors.

John F. Kennedy gets credit for giving the speech on June 11, 1963 that moved civil rights from a political to a moral issue in this country.  His rhetoric was clear and set the tone for the Civil Rights Act on the Hill.  Few people know that it was in fact Robert Kennedy that pushed his brother to make that speech and support the Civil Rights Act.  The once pragmatic and calculated Kennedy brother saw the injustice of segregation in those years as attorney general and encouraged his older brother to take a stand on the right side of history.

Eight days before JFK's speech in June 1963 RFK said "Not because it is legally the thing that you should do, but because it is morally the right thing to do, and that we are all brothers and that we have to live as brothers."  We rarely see that type of rhetoric in politics today.  Indeed, it had an impact then and still resonates today.

Bayard Rustin, Martin Luther King and many others get much deserved credit for the March on Washington in 1963.  Few realize that it was Robert Kennedy and Burke Marshall, his assistant, made sure that certain logistics such as toilets and food were taken care of, which contributed to the success of that historic day.  In an effort to keep the crowd controlled it was Bobby Kennedy who favored Lincoln Memorial instead of the Capitol.  John Lewis, the newly elected leader of the SNCC, made a speech that day.  He was also present in Chicago in 2008 when Barack Obama gave his victory speech as President-Elect of the United States.

We live in a different world because of people like Bobby Kennedy.  It was 50 years ago next month that Bobby Kennedy was elected as Senator of New York.  In the wake of his brother's death, he evolved even further on his stance for civil rights, helping the disadvantaged in New York until his death by an assassin's bullet in 1968.  While Lyndon Johnson deserves credit for getting the bill through congress in 1964, Bobby Kennedy should get the credit for pushing the idea with his brother.  Without the moral persuasion of RFK it may have taken even more time to develop.  Instead the Kennedy brothers contributed to a chapter of the cause to end racism.  That cause continues into the 21st century.